Will trying to solve family mysteries take you down the Li River in southeast China? If so, you’ll pass intriguingly shaped 900-foot karst peaks, bamboo groves and rural villages.
What about combining an Alaskan cruise through the Inside Passage with time to write about what you’ve discovered in your genealogical research
Do these activities interest you:
- Enrolling in an online class taught by genealogical research consultants to help discover my family tree.
- Participating in discussion forms to help solve family mysteries.
- Accessing billions of online genealogical records including birth, marriage, death, probate, land and military to learn more about my family history.
- Reading and commenting on blogs about new genealogical resources.
- Watching videos on how to begin my family history research.
- Browsing through a digitized collection of genealogical and family history publications from North American Libraries that will strengthen connections to my past.
- Developing research skills about a specific country or record type pertinent to my genealogical research.
- Belonging to a network of 4,000 plus facilities that offer public access to genealogical records from all over the world.
- Downloading a 110 page PDF document that will show me how to develop and use my Family Tree.
- Accessing genealogical records all the way back to 1740.
Did you have at least one checkmark? If so, www.familysearch.org may help solve your family mysteries.
The above represent some of the online family history and genealogical resource services provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that are available at www.familysearch.org. There is no fee required for access to this site but a user name and password is needed for activation.
The homepage is entitled “Discover Your Family History.” It is well-organized and one may begin a search by entering a family name. The headings at the top and along the side enable an easy navigation with the “Help” icon posted in the top right corner.
Are You Ready For Genealogical Travel?
A map of the world with a list of locations fills the bottom section of the homepage. This is a terrific feature that allows you to concentrate your genealogical research. Here are the steps I followed in my search to solve family mysteries related to my Nana Caterina. Please note that she was born in Mottafollone, Calabria, Italy on April 8, 1889 and immigrated to North America on January 13, 1913 when she landed at The Ellis Island Immigration Station, New York.
- Clicked Continental Europe and taken to Historical Record Collections.
- Reviewed the list of Historical Record Collections organized by country and date.
- Selected Italy.
- Refined list from 1700 to present generated. It was organized by location, type, numbers and date last updated.
- Selected: Italy: Births and Baptisms, 1806-1900.
- Continued to refine search by adding data related to Nana Caterina such as names of her parents and place of birth in boxes provided.
- Obtained sample documents relevant to Nana Caterina.
Familysearch.org is a comprehensive site and taking the time to explore the range of genealogical resources available could help solve a family mystery or two!
Are you looking for a Friday night activity? If so, you might be interested in the television series “Who Do You Think You Are?” The hour long show chronicles celebrities searching to solve family mysteries and familysearch.org provides information.
Where in the world have your family mysteries taken you? I’d welcome your comments.
My photographs reflect the theme of this blog and I hope you enjoy them.
If you have Italian roots, have you looked for your family in places like Portovenere on the rugged eastern Ligurian coastline?
A cruise through the Chilean fjords may be on your itinerary should you discover that some of your ancestors were from South America.
Learning that your relatives built wooden boats in Kerala, southern India many years ago could lead to a backwaters tour on a converted rice boat.
